The invention relates generally to waste disposal, and in particular to a receptacle for temporarily storing odoriferous waste and containing objectionable odors. Children's diapers are a common odoriferous waste material that require temporary storage in the home until they are washed (if reusable) or disposed of (if disposable).
A conventional waste container typically consists of a pail open at one end that serves as a storage chamber and a removable lid to cover the pail's open end. To use such a container, the user removes the lid, deposits the waste in the pail, and replaces the lid. Offensive fumes and odors emanating from the waste material contained in the closed pail accumulate in the pail and assault the user's senses when the lid is next removed. Consequently, routine use of such a conventional garbage pail repeatedly exposes the user, and those nearby, to the offensive odors accumulated in the pail from the previously deposited waste. Furthermore, many such garbage containers do not have an air tight seal between the pail and lid, permitting odors to escape even when the lid is in place.
Several approaches have been taken in designing garbage receptacles that attempt to insulate the user from exposure to the offensive odors accumulated in the receptacle. These approaches can be classified as odor absorbers, inner lids or seals, air locks, and individual packaging.
The odor absorber approach relies on mechanical or chemical absorption or adsorption of accumulated odors. A suitable absorber is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,462 to Hames, which uses an actuated charcoal adsorber mounted in a perforated holder beneath the container lid. Although such absorbers can reduce the amount of objectionable odors, they cannot eliminate them, and they require periodic replacement.
Several devices have been proposed that add an inner lid or seal between the conventional container's pail and outer lid to reduce leakage of odors when the outer lid is closed and/or to minimize the time during which the user is exposed to the odors accumulated in the pail while adding more waste. One example of such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,110 to Shaw, Jr. This device includes a canister and seal insert having a plurality of slits intersecting centrically to provide flexible, sliced pie-shaped sectors adapted to be flexed downward into the canister base. A top has a frusto-conical plunger adapted to flex the sectors of the insert downward to allow a diaper deposited on the insert to fall into the canister. The top also has a handle with a deodorizer.
The Turn 'N Seal Diaper Pail, sold by Safety 1st, also incorporates such an inner lid. This pail also has a mechanism for twisting closed the neck of a plastic liner bag, by rotating the lid while closed, to avoid exposing the user to the contents of the storage chamber when the bag is full and must be sealed and removed. The resealable opening approach is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,526 to Sumanis, which discloses a garbage pail in which a bag is secured to a rotaatably mounted holder inside the pail. The top of the bag is fastened in place so that rotation of the holder opens and closes the neck of the bag (by twisting it). When a foot pedal is depressed, a linkage opens the lid and rotates the holder to open the bag. Releasing the foot pedal closes the lid and rotates the holder to close the bag. This device suffers from the same drawback as of conventional containers of exposing the user to the accumulated odors when the lid is open, since the bag is open simultaneously.
In the air lock approach, the container includes a lid that covers a first chamber, a transfer mechanism, and a second chamber for finally receiving the waste. The user opens the lid, deposits the waste into the first chamber, and closes the lid. The user then actuates the transfer mechanism to transfer the waste material from the first chamber into a second chamber. Examples of this approach are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,226,634 to Briese; 1,239,427 to Bunnel & Gates; and 1,265,148 to Warren.
The individual packaging approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,049 to Richards et at., in which a container has an inner storage chamber accessed via a closable lid and an intermediate tubular core. A length of flexible tubing is stored along side the core with a closed end disposed at the lower end of the core. After a diaper is deposited into the tube, the core is rotated, which twists the flexible tube to create a seal above the diaper. To dispose of the next diaper, the user opens the lid and inserts the diaper. Pushing the previous seal downward (which pushes the previous diaper into the storage chamber) then creates a new seal by twisting the tube above the newly deposited diaper. Consequently, the device stores the diapers in a series of individually wrapped packages in the storage chamber--each package being separated from adjacent packages by twists in the tube. Although this system prevents the escape of offensive odors, it requires the use of special tubing and the user to manually prepare the tube for each succeeding diaper that is deposited.